by George Schroeder, USA TODAY Sports

"As soon as the baby makes a peep," he said, "seeing somebody run to pick her up, (and) you say, 'She'll be fine, just let her cry.' "

After a pause, he added, "That was a mistake â?? that was a huge mistake."

More important â?? and a topic he didn't touch lightly on Thursday, during his appearance at SEC media days â?? is Saban's role as head of a team that he essentially described as a family, and how he's handling two recent mistakes by players. He's keeping them in the family.

Running back Kenyan Drake and defensie Jarran Reed were arrested earlier this month in separate incidents (Drake for interfering with police, Reed for driving under the influence). Saban said both are suspended â?? he declined to say how long those might last â?? but both remain members of the team.

"When they prove that I think or we think that they're ready to come back and show a little bit more responsibility and discipline for how they handle themselves, their decision-making, how they represent the university, their family and themselves, then we'll allow them to come back on the team."

In comments both before and during his main interview session at the Hyatt Regency Birmingham, Saban spoke generally on what he sees as a growing trend of immaturity among players and on his philosophy of discipline. He said he's opposed to dismissing players, adding when he has kicked players off teams, "there's not one player â?¦ that ever went anywhere and amounted to anything and accomplished anything, playing or academically."

He asked rhetorically how reporters handle discipline when it comes to their children. "Sometimes these adolescents disappoint us," Saban said. "How do we react to that? â?¦ You have someone in your family who disappoints you, we certainly can't kick them out of our family. I think we have to try to support them, teach them, get them to do the right things because we love them, we care about them."

He insisted "the process" â?? a term that refers to the all-encompassing structure for the Alabama football program â?? works, and noted that in his six years at Alabama, 89 players have graduated with eligibility remaining, including 28 in the Sugar Bowl last January.

That loss to Oklahoma was the Crimson Tide's second consecutive to end the 2013 season. The first loss, to Auburn, dashed the program's chances of winning a third consecutive BCS national championship (and fourth in five seasons). Saban said the fizzle was caused in part by complacency after success.

"We have to reestablish our identity as a team at Alabama," he said. "It's going to take every player to have a tremendous amount of buy-in for us to be able to do that. I think you basically need to check your ego at the door, all of us in our organization â?? players, coaches, everybody in our organization."

Despite the losing streak and the loss of players at several key positions, Alabama was tabbed in a vote by media covering the SEC as the preseason favorite to win the conference championship. Saban made a point several times that the media has missed the call in 18 of the 22 years the poll has been taken, including each of the past five.

"To be kind, it doesn't mean anything," he said.

Of course, that means â?? at least for now, in this one area â?? he's rooting for the media.

"You're all the sudden my buddies," he said.

Saban said Alabama is "basically an unproven team." Most visibly, that includes quarterback, where Florida State transfer Jacob Coker is the presumptive heir to A.J. McCarron. He disputed that notion, saying the perception that Coker will get the job is not shared "by me, my staff or our players," but said competition with Blake Sims will continue during preseason practices next month.

"We really can't make that decision or prediction as to what's going to happen at that position," Saban said, "but the development of that position, regardless of who the player is, is going to be critical to the success of our team."

Among other topics Saban addressed Thursday:

- He said former USC head coach Lane Kiffin has been a good fit at offensive coordinator. "It's probably a big transition for him to be a head coach for a long time," he said. "As soon as you get used to being the boss and then you're not the boss anymore, it's a transition. â?¦ All of the sudden, you can't say when everybody gets to go home. It's just different. But he's done a really good job for us. The players have responded to him well. He's a good teacher. He's a good coach. So far, so good."

- Saban said he was not offered the Texas coaching job during the offseason. "I didn't have any conversations with them; nobody offered me anything," Saban said, adding he "didn't have very much interest." Saban said he and his wife are happy at Alabama. "This is where we just choose to, you know, end our career someday," he said.

- On whether his young granddaughter will eventually have access to his stash of Little Debbie snacks: "Everybody hits my Debbie cookies up. Everybody gets on me for eating them, but there's nobody that passes the cookie jar without grabbing one. I'm sure my granddaughter won't be any different."